Author picks

Our author recommendations don’t end here. We’ve flagged up our favourite places – a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric café, a special restaurant – throughout the guide, highlighted with the symbol.

Scaling the snow-tipped heights of its awe-inspiring national parks, enduring Atlantic storms and driving some of Canada’s most challenging and isolated roads, our hard-travelling authors have visited every corner of this vast, magnificent country – from the outports of Newfoundland to the pristine wilderness of Yukon. Here are their personal favourites:

Canada live

In the land of Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen and k.d. lang, see the latest Canadian stars at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Club Soda in Montréal, and the Commodore in Vancouver.

Go wild

Soak up Canada’s pristine wilderness beachcombing Porcupine Strand, Labrador, driving the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Circle or hiking the Canol Heritage Trail in the North West Territories.

Watching whales

Enjoy hefty doses of minke, finback, grey and humpback from Westport in Nova Scotia; St Lawrence River in Québec; Bay Bulls in Newfoundland; Battle Harbour in Labrador; and Victoria in BC.

Iceberg spotting

In spring and early summer the chance is high you’ll spy these blue-white giants at Twillingate and St Anthony in Newfoundland.

Aboriginal culture

Visit the Metepenagiag Heritage Park in New Brunswick to learn about the local Mi’kmaq tribe, the Woodland Cultural Centre in Ontario and Haida Gwaii, the island home of the Haida people.

Best microbreweries

Fredericton’s Picaroons is New Brunswick’s high-quality microbrewery, while Newfoundland’s Quidi Vidi Brewery makes beer with real icebergs and À l’abri de la Tempete in Québec’s Îles-de-la-Madeleine serves distinctive award-winning ales. One of a very long list in BC is Vancouver’s dependable Granville Island Brewing.